"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...
On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, Mrs Redboots wrote:

Well, at last Ken Livingstone and his minions have said that the
congestion charge isn't about reducing congestion at all, it's about
raising money.

So they introduce the congestion charge, which does exactly what it was
alleged to be supposed to do, and reduces the amount of private cars
using Central London on weekdays.... then, because it doesn't raise
enough money, they increase the charge by 60%. I can see it coming that
even fewer people will use private cars in the area.... so it *still*
won't raise enough money.....

Something wrong with this picture, no?

Well, the logical conclusion is that all cars will be priced out of the
whole of London.

So, no.

tom

--
[Philosophy] is kind of like being driven behind the sofa by Dr Who -
scary, but still entertaining. -- Itchyfidget


The current zone takes in the West End and The City. Mostly for business and
leisure activities.

The new zone takes in a huge swathe of residential areas, populated by
extremely rich people who can afford to pay the CC,
but they all get the CC discount. They are then free to go into the West End
and The City.
I can see it increasing traffic in the original zone and not doing much good
for revenues.
It'll put people off coming into the zone just like it has done in the
original zone.
Businesses are rightly worried about the prospects of the enlarged zone.

I myself cross London on a regular basis and either travel just before or
after the congestion charge starts/finishes
or travel round the zone and sit in traffic for the extra half hour or so
(probably paying an additonal fiver in fuel.)
But sometimes travelling round the zone presents no problem at all.

If I travel on business then I pay up and the company pays me back. That
cost of course ends up being paid somewhere down the line
by our poor customer. So all the CC is doing is distributing money in
different ways. Either me paying a fiver more petrol to circumnavigate it
or my customers paying more for their service as my companies costs have
increased.